


Two Pair, Three of a Kind

by Settiai



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: F/M, Holly Poly, M/M, Multi, One Shot, Slight Voyeurism, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-13 08:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5702656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was surprisingly simple to slip back into old patterns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Pair, Three of a Kind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WildAndFreeHearts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildAndFreeHearts/gifts).



Neria woke up with a gasp, the echo of a kiss on her lips as she sat straight up in her bed. She reached up to press her hand against her mouth, and for a moment she could almost feel Jowan's hands on her again. No, the _desire demon's_ hands on her again.

"Are you all right, Surana?"

She startled, her head jerking to the side. Anders was in the process of propping himself up on one arm, a hint of worry on his face that he wasn't doing nearly as good a job of hiding as he probably thought. His hair was hanging loose around his face, making him look younger than she was used to seeing him.

He frowned at her. "Neria?"

A rueful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she realized that she hadn't actually answered his question. "I'm fine," she said.

The look he shot her flew straight past skeptical to land on completely disbelieving.

"I'll be fine," Neria said, amending her previous answer. "Really."

Anders raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn't argue with her. "Darkspawn?" he asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice. "Or demons?"

Neria snorted, not caring in the least if it wasn't appropriate for someone of her station, as Varel kept constantly reminding her. "Could it not just be an ordinary bad dream?"

"Of course it could," Anders agreed immediately. "So was it darkspawn or demons?"

She elbowed him in the side as she sank back down onto the bed. "You think you're so smart," she grumbled half-heartedly.

Ander's mouth twisted into a grin, and she felt her breath catch for a moment at just how damn handsome he was. If anything, his grin grew even broader as he clearly realized that he was the reason for her momentary pause. He pushed himself up a bit more, preening a little.

Neria bit her lip, trying her best to resist the urge to look away from him. "It was a demon."

His grin disappeared almost immediately, not that she could blame him. Anders was a mage too, after all. He knew just what it meant to have a demon tempting you in your sleep.

"What kind?" Anders asked seriously, not even pretending to hide his worry anymore.

Neria sighed, reaching up to brush some hair out of her face and absentmindedly twisting it around her finger in the process. "Desire," she said, not looking away but not quite meeting his gaze either.

Anders was silent for a moment or two before he let out a quiet "oh." A second later, he reached out to rest his hand on her bare thigh. It was gentle, a silent reassurance more than anything remotely amorous. A reminder that she was awake, not in the Fade, and that more importantly she wasn't alone.

He didn't say anything. He didn't have to say anything. Anders was a mage, just like her. He knew how demons worked. Just like he knew what it meant, that a desire demon had slipped into her dreams.

That was the thing about demons, after all. They didn't tempt you with what you already had. They tempted with what you wanted. What you had lost. What you couldn't have.

Neria took a deep breath, pushing aside the familiar face tugging at the corners of her memory. Dark hair and eyes the color of iron, a teasing grin that meant nothing but trouble. A laugh that never failed to make her smile. A hand clinging to hers in the dark, a silent comfort that was just between them.

The past was in the past. There was no use dwelling on it.

"Ready to come back to bed, sweetheart?" Anders asked softly.

She snorted despite herself, finally turning her gaze back toward Anders. He was watching her carefully, an even look on his face that said more than any open emotions ever could. "Would you want to go back to sleep after being tempted by a demon?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow. 

The corners of his mouth turned up in a blatant smirk. "I didn't say anything about going back to sleep," he pointed out impishly.

Neria couldn't help it. She laughed.

Then she leaned in and kissed him, groaning a little as he reached up to cup one of her breasts. He had made a good point, after all.

*

One of the first lessons that Neria had learned as a Warden was to expect the unexpected. It didn't necessarily make things any easier, but it did at least save on time when a person was at the point where they didn't bother asking a lot of questions.

"How many are blighted?" Neria asked, chewing on her lip as she hurried down the corridor that led toward the main hall.

"The seneschal said that it was four," Nathaniel said with a quick glance in her direction. "From the sound of it, at least two of them are pretty far gone. If you're thinking about giving them the Joining, there isn't much time."

Neria nodded. "Do you think I should?" she asked seriously.

Nathaniel's steps didn't falter. He was too well bred for that. There was a moment's hesitation before he answered, though, one that spoke volumes. "I think that's your decision, Commander."

"So do I," Neria agreed. "That doesn't mean I don't still want your opinion."

There was another pause before Nathaniel let out a sigh. "I think you shouldn't decide sight unseen," he said. "If any of them seem to have promise, then it can't hurt. We could use all the help we can get against these new darkspawn. But if they're not suitable—"

He trailed off, but Neria knew what he meant. She nodded. "If they were to survive the Joining, they might wish that we had just let them die."

"Yes," Nathaniel agreed. It looked for a moment as if he was going to say something else, but then he closed his mouth and pursed his lips together tightly.

Neria shot him a look. "Whatever it is, just spit it out," she said as they came up to the doors that led to the main hall.

Nathaniel looked like he wanted to do anything _but_ tell her what he was thinking, but he clearly knew an order when he heard one. And no matter how informal Neria had just been, it hadn't been a request that she'd been making of him. "Letting people know that becoming a Warden cures blight sickness might cause more harm than good."

"Understood," Neria said tersely, pushing the doors open, "not that I would truly call it a cure."

And then they were in the main hall, and their conversation stopped abruptly.

The small group of refugees that had arrived not long earlier were clumped together in a corner of the room, shooting wary glances at the opposite corner. That's where Anders was, kneeling down so that he could examine two people sprawled out on the floor. A young human girl, no older than five years or so, was hovering near him, although she was at least keeping far enough away from the two blighted people to keep herself safe.

There was a sheet thrown on the ground nearby, two lumps under it that were clearly bodies. 

Neria took in the room, narrowing her eyes before making a beeline for Anders. Before she could get to him, though, the child she had seen stepped in front of her.

"Please help him." The little girl looked up at Neria with wide eyes, tear streaks on her dirty face. "He helped us."

Neria forced herself to smile, even though she didn't feel like it. She reached out to rest a hand on the side of the girl's face for a moment. "Help who, little one?"

The girl sniffled. "Levyn."

She must have said something reassuring to the girl, as she smiled at Neria before turning and running back toward the main group. Neria didn't have any idea what words had come out of her mouth, though. Her mind was too busy focusing in on one of the refugees that Anders was kneeling beside. A man with long, dark hair, wearing tattered clothes that might have once been robes.

Levyn wasn't that uncommon of a name. That's why she assumed Jowan had started using it in the aftermath of Redcliffe, after all. To keep from standing out. The odds of it actually being him were slim to none.

And yet...

Neria knelt down to get a closer look at the man. Anders glanced at her for a second before turning his attention back to the woman he was examining, her mottled skin making it clear that she was most likely beyond saving even with the Joining.

She took in a deep breath before reaching out to brush a clump of greasy hair out of the man's face so that she could see him better. Then she froze, her heart feeling as if it was about to pound straight out of her chest.

"Jowan."

She was vaguely aware of Anders's head snapping in her direction, recognition flashing on his face at the name if not the face. Her attention was focused almost entirely on the dirty, blighted man in front of her, though. He looked older than the last time she had seen him, thinner and more worn, but it was _him_. She would recognize that face anywhere.

Jowan looked up at her, the veins in his face showing clearly against his pale skin, surprised recognition flashing in his slightly milky eyes. "Neria?" he asked, his voice hoarse, and that single word was all it took for her to make the decision she'd been hesitating over ever since she'd gotten word that there were refugees arriving who had the blight sickness.

"Varel!" Neria snapped, reluctantly pulling her gaze away from Jowan. "Do you have everything that's needed for the Joining?"

If the seneschal was surprised by her decision, he didn't let it show on his face. Varel merely nodded and picked the chalice up from the table in front of him.

"Clear the room."

*

He survived.

The words were like a mantra in her mind, repeating over and over again. _He survived. He survived. He survived. He survived._

Neria clung to them as she sat in the chair beside Jowan's bed, her gaze focused on his still form. It had been almost six hours already, since she'd held her breath and watched him collapse to the floor. Even though she knew it wasn't unusual for new recruits to take that long or longer to recover, she couldn't help but worry that the moment she looked away he would disappear.

A hand suddenly rested on her shoulder, and it took everything that she had not to jump in surprise at the touch. It said a lot about her state of mind that she hadn't even noticed the door open.

When she turned around a moment later, she wasn't surprised to find that it was Anders standing there. He smiled at her, but it didn't quite meet his eyes.

"That's your healer smile," Neria said, frowning at the slight rasp in her voice.

Anders held out a glass of water. "Does that mean you don't want this?" he asked lightly.

Neria stuck out her tongue at him, earning a chuckle and a smile that actually looked real. Or, at the very least, more real than the one he'd just given her. Then she reached out and grabbed the glass from his hand, draining it in a few large gulps.

"Thank you," she said, handing it back to him.

His fingers lingered on hers a little longer than was absolutely necessary as he took the empty glass from her. "That's what I'm here for," he said brightly. "Well, that, and making you scream when I use my—"

Anders cut off abruptly, dodging the ice spell that Neria chucked his way. He laughed, a real laugh that lit up his face. It faded after few seconds, his gaze drifting toward the bed.

Neria followed his gaze. Jowan was still out cold, although he looked more like he was sleeping than unconscious. His color was better than earlier, now that its greyish tinge was finally gone.

"I remember him a little," Anders said slowly. "From when I was still an apprentice. You were friends, weren't you? You, him, and Amell?"

Despite her best intentions, Neria grimaced slightly at his casual mention of Daylen. It still hurt, even almost three years, to think about him. One day he had been there, laughing and refusing to take anything seriously, and the next he had been gone. Forgotten. As if he'd never been there in the first place.

Most of the rumors had said that he'd failed his harrowing. A few whispers had said that he'd been set up to fail his harrowing, that the templars had given him hardly any time at all. She supposed she'd never know. Still, looking back, she couldn't help but wonder if that had been the beginning of everything that had gone wrong with Jowan. If losing Daylen had been what convinced him that he had no other options.

"You and Jowan were lovers," Anders said. There was no doubt in Neria's mind that it wasn't a question. It was a statement.

It wasn't accusing. That wasn't how it worked, growing up in the Circle. Everyone had slept with everyone else at one point or another. There was no use in being jealous when everyone knew no relationships would ever be truly serious.

They might not be in the Circle anymore, but some lessons were harder to shake than other.

She nodded in agreement. "Occasionally."

Anders shook his head and walked over to the bed, reaching down to rest his hand on Jowan's forehead. His hand glowed for a moment, his brow furrowing as he did... whatever it was that healers did when checking on unconscious people. Neria was better at blowing things up than fixing them, so she only had a rudimentary idea of what was even involved in the process.

"How did he escape, by the way?" Anders asked curiously as he pulled his hands away, stepping back from the bed. "He doesn't really seem like the type."

Neria flinched. It was completely unintentional, but she couldn't stop it.

Anders raised his eyebrows. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's a story behind that look," he said slowly.

"One you've already heard," Neria said quietly.

A confused look appeared on Anders's face, his gaze moving between Jowan's still form and Neria's face a few times. "I'm missing something."

Neria sighed, reaching up to rub the bridge of her nose. "I told you how I became a Grey Warden, remember? I thought it was obvious even without the names."

Anders stared at her for a long moment before realization dawned on his face. His eyes went wide, his gaze darting from her to unconscious man on the bed and back. "He's a blood mage?" he hissed.

Neria looked down at her hands, not surprised to see that she had been twisting them together without even realizing it. "It's complicated."

"It's a 'yes' or 'no' answer," Anders said sarcastically. "How complicated can it be?"

"You'd be surprised," Neria shot back crossly, still not meeting his gaze.

"Neria—" Anders cut off at the sharp look that she shot him. Then he shook his head. "He's a blood mage. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What if he—"

"How would you feel if it had been Karl?" she snapped at him, cutting him off mid-question. Neria regretted the words almost as soon as they were out of her mouth, but there was no taking them back and she knew it.

Anders's eyes flashed with something that she couldn't quite make out, a combination of hurt and anger and something else entirely. For a long moment, she was certain he was about to snap back at her. Then he just... stopped, shrinking in on himself like an affronted cat that had suddenly decided it was better to hide than to fight.

She opened her mouth, not certain exactly what she was going to ask him but certain she needed to ask _something_. Then she heard movement coming from behind her.

"Neria?" Jowan asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Neria spun around, her eyes wide. Jowan was awake, a slightly dazed look on his face that she recognized all too well. "Hey there," she said softly, taking a step forward. "How are you feeling?"

Jowan frowned. "Alive," he said slowly. "Which is something of a surprise."

It was easy to fall back into the familiar back-and-forth that they had known most of their lives. Neither of them mentioned Lily or Connor or Redcliffe or any of a thousand other things that would remind them that everything had changed.

The next time she glanced behind her, Anders was gone.

*

It was surprising how well Jowan fit in with their motley crew of misfits, not that Neria would ever tell anyone that's how she referred to her group of Wardens in her head. Within two weeks, it was if he had always been one of them.

Even Anders tried, which had surprised her. She knew that he wasn't fond of blood magic, not that she could blame him. He hadn't gone into much detail, or _any_ detail if she was honest, but she had gotten the impression that he had been in the Circle's dungeons when Uldred had rebelled. Considering the things that he must have seen, it would be a shock if he wasn't at least a little wary.

Still, he did a good job of hiding it. Better than she could have done in his place, she suspected.

Maybe that was why it was so easy to slip back into old patterns.

Neria slept with Jowan three weeks after he arrived at Vigil's Keep. She wasn't necessarily planning on it. It just... happened. One minute they were walking through the stables, Jowan protesting loudly that he didn't want to learn how to ride a horse and, Warden Commander or not, she couldn't make him do it. The next, well, they were rolling around in the hay of an empty stall.

"Do you think anyone will notice?" Neria asked, brushing off her clothes as best she could.

Jowan grinned at her before leaning in to press a kiss against the tip of her nose, a quirk of his that she hadn't even realized she missed until right then. "That you look freshly fucked?" he asked teasingly. "Yep. There's no hiding it."

She swatted him. "I hate you."

"No you don't," he said lightly.

Neria stilled. "No," she agreed. "No, I really don't." She paused for a long moment. "I'm glad you're here. Despite everything. I missed you."

Jowan smiled, and it lit up his entire face.

Then someone rather pointedly cleared their throat behind her, and Neria felt her face redden. "Oh, Maker," she muttered under her breath, spinning around.

Anders was standing there, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face that she wouldn't have been surprised to find out was illegal, considering the way it made heat pool low in her belly. There was a slight tenting at the front of his robes that made it clear that he'd probably been standing there for at least a few minutes.

If anything, Neria felt her face grew even redder.

"Someone's been busy," Anders said teasingly. He took a few steps forward, reaching his hand out toward her hair. He pulled it away a moment later, several pieces of straw held between his fingers. "You missed a few."

Neria spun around to glare at Jowan, who was wearing a suspiciously innocent look on his face. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he was struggling to keep a straight face.

"I take it back," Neria said, "I do hate you."

Jowan leaned in suddenly to kiss her again, this time on the lips. Then he pulled away. "Look at the time," he said. "You know what, I think that I'm late for something. I should go, don't you think?"

Before Neria could convince her brain to work properly so that she could respond, or at the very least swat him, Jowan laughed and started toward the door to the stables at a brisk walk. He winked at Anders as he walked by him. "She's all yours."

"I appreciate it," Anders said dryly.

As Jowan walked away, Neria couldn't help but notice that Anders was watching him rather closely. There wasn't any hint of jealousy or irritation on his face, not that she could see. It actually looked more like... like...

Oh. _Oh._

Neria leaned in, wrapping her arm Anders's waist. "He does have a nice ass, doesn't he?"

Anders nodded in agreement, not moving his gaze from said ass as it disappeared around a corner. "He really does."

*

The others didn't understand.

Oh, none of them said anything to her face, but it was clear as day that they didn't get it. Sharing a bed with Anders or with Jowan wouldn't have been anything unexpected. It was the fact that she switched between the two regularly, with neither seeming to be upset about it, that threw everyone.

It had been some time since Neria had really felt like the Circle was some foreign land that was incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't grown up in it. Not since those first few months outside its walls. The first time she walked by Velanna and noticed the other elf staring at the very prominent bruise Anders had left on her neck as if she was some interesting specimen for study, the feelings came rushing back.

"I don't see that it's any of your business who they sleep with," Sigrun said, her voice overly loud in the dining hall.

Neria froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. Beside her, Jowan was in a similar state of unmoving.

Across from them, Anders had paused as well. Then he shrugged and went back to shoveling food in his mouth. Beside him, Nathaniel looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else.

Not quite certain she wanted to know, Neria reluctantly turned her gaze toward the end of the table. Sigrun was standing beside her chair, her hands on her hips as she glared at Oghren. Or possibly Velanna, who was sitting two chairs away from him. It was a very diffusive glare.

"Sigrun, it's fine," Neria said, raising her voice to make certain she was heard.

Sigrun turned the glare toward her and, Warden Commander or not, Neria shrank in on herself just a little at the force of it. "No, it's not," Sigrun said. "I mean, I don't get why the three of you don't just go in together since you're obviously all interested, but as long as everyone's happy—"

"I will _pay you_ to stop talking," Nathaniel said, his voice somewhat strangled.

Anders grinned, one of his hands disappearing under the table, and judging by the way Nathaniel jerked a moment later Neria assumed that he'd probably jolted him with an electric current. "I don't know, Nate, I might pay her to _keep_ talking."

Neria kicked him under the table. Hard.

Anders let out a yelp. "What was that for?" he asked, sounding hurt.

"Behave," she said, her annoyance shining through and making her tone a bit sterner than she'd normally make it for a minor chastisement.

He frowned at her.

To her left, Jowan had put his fork down and looked about as happy with the conversation going at the table as she felt.

Neria almost reached up to rub her suddenly aching temples. Instead, she let out a sigh and let her gaze pointedly drift over the table. "I appreciate the sentiment, Sigrun," she said, "but can we let it drop?"

Luckily for everyone involved, Sigrun had enough sense to tell that despite the wording, Neria wasn't actually _asking_. She nodded. "Whatever you'd like, Commander."

"Thank you," Neria said with a nod.

She glanced over Nathaniel before letting her gaze move past him to focus on Oghren and Velanna. Not for the first time, she sent up a silent prayer of thanks that Justice didn't bother joining them for meals since he didn't actually eat. "Does anyone else want to say anything?"

Velanna didn't say anything. She met Neria's gaze straight on, a cool look on her face, although there was a hint of color high on her cheeks. Then she nodded, a slight incline of her head that was almost unnoticeable.

Oghren snorted. "I'd rather keep my balls attached."

And, just like that, the tension broke.

*

All things considered, Neria wasn't entirely shocked when she walked through the door to find Anders and Jowan sprawled out on the bed, fully dressed but looking more than a little disheveled as they kissed. A little surprised, maybe, considering it was _her bed_ that they were rolling around on, but not shocked.

She cleared her throat. Eventually. It was her own bedroom, after all. If they hadn't wanted her to watch, they should have gone somewhere else.

The two of them pulled apart, Anders a bit more reluctantly than Jowan. Considering it took a second or so for Jowan to carefully extract his hand from wherever it had been inside Anders's robes once they pulled apart, she suspected she probably knew why Anders was so reluctant. They were both breathing heavily, and Neria couldn't help but wonder just how long they'd been at it.

"On top of my bed?" she asked, amusement coloring her voice. "Really?"

Jowan's mouth twitched, and he shot Anders a pointed look. Neria obediently turned her attention toward Anders, quirking an eyebrow.

Anders grinned at her. "We figured it would save time."

"Save time?" Neria repeated slowly.

"This way, we didn't have to go look for you," Jowan said, not even trying to hide his smile any longer.

Neria almost laughed, but she turned it into a cough at the last second. Judging by the looks both of them shot her, she didn't fool either of them.

"Does that mean there's room for a third on the bed?" she asked, her voice overly innocent.

Anders's eyes twinkled. "Well, it is your bed," he said. "It would be awfully rude of us not to invite you to join us in it."

"Very rude," Jowan agreed.

"Well, we can't have that," Neria said, finally letting her mouth twist into the grin that had been threatening to come out ever since she had walked in the door.

She held up her left hand rather pointedly, making certain both of their gazes were focused on it before she let a thin layer of ice crackle across her fingertips. Anders grinned and held up his own hand, a few sparks of electricity darting across it.

Jowan chuckled. "Showoffs," he muttered fondly.

Neria threw back her head and laughed. Then, in one fluid movement, she let her robe drop to the floor.

There wasn't much need for talking after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
